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Shootings, violent crimes 'historically low'

CINCINNATI - A year ago, Cincinnati looked like the Queen City of the Wild West.

Shootings and gun crimes were up, and Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell was about to get run out of Dodge.

A year later, there's a new chief in town, and shootings and gun crimes are down year over year from Jan. 1 to May 21 with Eliot Isaac in charge, according to crime statistics from the Cincinnati Police Department.

Isaac's plan helped reverse an increase in shootings in the first two months of the year before PIVOT took effect.

"We've seen the results of it. Neighborhoods are more peaceful. Overall, I think we're in for a pretty peaceful summer," Mingo said.

Shootings went up in January and February from 42 in 2015 to 49 this year. At the time, police leaders said their place-based strategy would make headway against violent crime. PIVOT uses data-driven evidence to identify violent locations in the city and disrupt the networks of people who use those locations to perpetuate crime.

Has it worked?

Since March, there have been 40 fewer shooting victims for the same period last year (down from 121 to 81).

Shootings are down 24.5 percent in District 4
this year (from 53 to 40) and 30.6 percent in District 5
(from 36 to 25).

District 3,
which moved its station to Westwood last fall, has the most shootings this year but still has shown a decrease with 43 - down from 45 last year (a 4.4 percent drop).

District 1
is down from 23.8 percent (from 21 to 16). District 2
is down 33.3 percent (from 9 to 6).

Shooting totals do not include police shootings, and homicide totals do not include vehicular homicides.

Violent crimes:

> All homicides are up a total of one (from 25 to 26).

> Rape is down 11 percent (from 99 to 88).

> Robbery is down 4 percent (from 451 to 433).

> Aggravated assaults are down 7 percent (from 247 to 230).

Property crimes:

> All property crimes are down 10 percent (from 5,968 to 5,389).

> Burglaries and breaking and entering are down 15 percent (from 1,575 to 1,345).

> Thefts from autos are down 15 percent (from 1,273 to 1,079).

> Personal/other theft are down 5 percent (from 2,742 to 2,597).

> Auto theft is down 3 percent (from 378 to 368).

Where's the most crime?

District 3, which moved its headquarters from East Price Hill, has the most violent crime and the most property crime, although property crime is down 18 percent and violent crimes are statistically the same as last year.

Elsewhere, violent crime is up in District 5, and property crime is up in District 1, and both types of crime are up in the Central Business District.

Here's a breakdown that shows violent crime and property crime in each district:

In the chief's annual crime report for 2015,
Isaac and analysts from the city’s newly launched Office of Performance and Analytics showed how two categories of violent crime — rape and homicide — have steadily increased since 2011. By contrast, while aggravated assaults were up from 2014, they have steadily decreased over the last five years. Robberies have also showed steady decline in that time period.

Isaac was appointed interim chief when Blackwell was fired on Sept. 9. He was formally made chief on Dec. 10.

Mingo believes there's good collaboration between city leaders and community activists to steer people away from crime.

"We're seeing a lot of people who are tired. They're tired of being on the corners. They're tired of robbing people and then being robbed themselves. They're tired of being hopeless," Mingo said.